Scouse Express

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_1...-10391704.html

Southwest Airlines.......at it again.


Jim.

Manc

"southwest bumps standby passenger for kid whom turns up late"

wouldn't be as good a story.

Scouse Express

No, but, if she's already on the plane.......that should be the end of the story.

Jim.

Bob

that's the price of a cheap standby ticket though...

ironporer

Yeah, standby is one thing; however when your ass hits the seat it should be yours. Full Stop.

Zonie

So ironporer, you have paid for a full fare ticket and you turn up at the gate late but luckily the gate is still open. You breathe a sigh of relief until the gate guardian advices you "Sorry, I know we sold you a seat but we've just sold it again to a standby pax"

Would you change your opinion?

ironporer

Yes, if I arrived past last call boarding time. Sucks I know but that is the way it is.

And BTW..it has happened to me- arrived while flight is boarding and lost seat.

Scouse Express

Get your ass to the gate on time - simple as that! It's not as if you're catching the bus home, from work.

By the sounds of this, boarding was about to close. If the gate guardian feels as though it is appropiate to give your seat to another passenger, you're already way late.

Jim.

DMDA

The airline didn't resell his seat though...according to the article the standby passenger had to give up her seat because he needed TWO seats and his parents had only purchased one. I'm not even sure the time he arrived to the gate is relevant.

IMO his size should have been taken into consideration when he was checked in and his parents made to purchase a second seat at that time. That way the standby passenger would never have been able to even board the plane.

Scouse Express

Plue, if he needs 2 seats at age 14......something else needs looking into.


Jim.

cindyabs

Interesting is that Southwest prides itself on quick turn around time from arrival at gate to departure from gate.

Kaffy Mintcake

Ah, but it can be very difficult to reach the gate on time, to no fault of the customer. I've found myself running to a connection due to a previous late flight many times. I would be angry to arrive only to find out that my seat had been given to a stand-by customer ... in fact, I would avoid that airline in the future.

Madelina

yes indeed, if it were a straight 1 for 1 seat issue, there'd be a debate to have, but the lady was evidently forced out of a seat sold and allocated to her (irrespective of price, a sale is a contract) to enable someone who had paid for 1 seat, to be given an extra one for free.... when it was apparent he had special requirements, he should have been catered for properly on a later flight. Its utterly ludicrous she was removed from the flight!

Ha! catered... that maaaay be what got him in that state at the age of 14 in the first place.... even my 21 stone dad can fit into a single plane seat, so i dread to think.....

Giantaxe

She was an unaccompanied minor - there was no adult there to buy a second ticket, at least not at the gate.

I think Southwest was caught between a rock and a hard place whatever they did on this one. I can just imagine the flak had they left an unaccompanied minor behind because they said she needed to buy a second seat. Airlines can and do bend the rules for unaccompanied minors so as to avoid them being left behind. Sucks for the standby passenger, but I'm not going to get too upset about Southwest's actions on this one.

DMDA

Perhaps you've read an article I haven't seen, but it doesn't say anything in this one about the kid being unaccompanied. Even if he was traveling alone, I'm sure someone was with him at checkin. Maybe check in staff should be trained to tell if someone is too fat to sit in one seat??

Once the standby passenger was allocated her seat, that should have been it. She shouldn't be penalised because another passenger was too fat to take only one seat.